Sandie Herron has done a terrific job organizing her reviews so they are easier for me to access. Thank you, Sandie, for sharing your review of the ninth Meg Langslow mystery. Cockatiels at Seven was reviewed from the audiobook.
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Cockatiels
at Seven
Meg Langslow Mystery Book 9
Written by Donna Andrews
Narrated by Bernadette
Dunne
Unabridged Audiobook
Dreamscape Media, LLC
(April 18, 2017)
Listening
Length: 7 hours and 18 minutes
When
her friend Karen drops by with her two-year-old son Timmy asking that Meg
Langslow babysit “just for a little while,” Meg takes on the challenge.
 After all, what’s so hard about playing with a toddler?  Meg puts away the blacksmithing project she’d
just begun in preparation for a craft show, and goes through what Karen left
with Timmy, finding several sets of clothes, diapers, bedding, Timmy’s favorite
blanket, and a bedraggled stuffed kitty named Kiki.  After dinner, Timmy
is still with the Langslows, and Karen isn’t answering Meg’s phone calls. 
When
Karen hasn’t shown up for Timmy by morning, Meg begins to investigate.
 Taking Timmy with her, she starts her search by visiting Karen’s
workplace in the financial offices of the college.  A paranoid supervisor
is more intent o
n where
Timmy’s hands are going than talking about Karen.  Later a co-worker pulls
Meg aside and confides that something is seriously wrong.  Police are
raiding Karen’s rundown apartment when Meg arrives.  She chides Chief Burke for treating Karen
like a criminal when she is missing.  Karen’s ex-husband had supposedly
left town, but perhaps he has taken her. 
Could Timmy be the target of kidnappers? 
Could Karen be hiding from bad guys?  Could she be a bad
guy?
Meg
continues to follow clues with the help of her large extended family.
 Meg’s brother Rob has been slowly moving into a third floor bedroom and
has been missing for blocks of time.  Meg’s dad and her newly discovered
grandfather, Dr. Montgomery Blake, renowned zoologist, have been hiding some
finches on the third floor and snakes in the basement.  Meg learns of an
old bird farm out in the country next door to a relative of Karen’s
husband.  Just what has her father been
up to?  Meg seems to be one step ahead of
Chief Burke at every new discovery.
Babysitting
alone is topic for a funny mystery, but Donna Andrews has expounded on this
theme in so many ways.  Embezzling, kidnapping, killing, and real estate
schemes round out this zany story.  While
being hilariously funny, this ninth outing of Meg Langslow and family are a tad
less madcap.  With the welfare of a child at stake, the investigators are
following all leads.  They can’t control
the trouble they get into checking them out! 
Thoroughly
enjoyable, and highly recommended.